When surfaces are covered, after smoothing a coating is normally affixed to a base surface, or panel plates or other plates can be attached to battens for covering. Where floors are concerned it will be essential to have a flat surface on which boards, planks or, e.g. parquet blocks are laid in a certain pattern, which have to be glued or affixed to one another in order to provide a continuous surface. In order to provide it with sufficient rigidity, these planks or boards will have to be relatively thick and when hard wood is employed this will also entail a relatively large weight load on the base.
Particularly in connection with public places such as in assembly halls, but especially also on board ships, there are increasingly stringent requirements for the use of fireproof materials. This also applies to floor materials and other coverings. At the same time on board ships, for example, there is a desire to use wooden floors, both from traditional as well as practical and decorative considerations. On ships and other means of transport, however, weight is also important and a solid wooden floor implies a major weight load.
In connection with fitting out aircraft, where weight is also a crucial consideration, a panel has been developed with a metal core in the form of an open cell structure, a so-called waffle structure, on which by means of adhesive films on both sides of the metal structure there are affixed thin cover plates, which are preferably impregnated with a fire-retardant agent. These are regular cover plates or panels intended for mounting by conventional means. A panel of this type is described in the above mentioned WO-84/04727, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,961. Similar panel types are also described in SE 429988 and SE 430180.